If you want to do appliques, you could use Heat'n'Bond. Unfortunately, I've never seen any Heat'n'Bond that big. You'd have to piece it together (though the gold part could remain solid). If you're cool with that, then go for it.

While I know it can be a hassle to sew that much fabric down (oh boy, do I ever), it looks sooooo much better when it's finished with a stitch. Leaving all the raw edges visible makes it kinda messy-looking, something you definitely don't want! If you're using fabric that is prone to raveling/falling apart, like satin, I'd really highly suggest satin-stitching the edges. All the way around. It's tedious, but not hard, and it makes it look so neat. =D If you're lucky enough to have fabric that doesn't start shedding excessively after the first snip of the scissors, you might be able to get away with just gluing it down (Heat 'n Bond can start peeling away after a short amount of time, I don't trust it for anything on the outside like that), but make sure you take some FrayCheck to the edges first!